Songs For the Heartbroken: Easier
by ProngsIsABadger
Summary: Konohagakure is not ready, and neither is Akane. Sequel to That's What You Get.
1. Prologue

Prologue.

The morning sun shone through the open windows of the Hokage's office. The cool spring breeze brought in the crisp scent of freshly mowed grass and damp soil from the sudden shower the previous night. Kakashi stood next to me as we gave our report on a recent mission we'd had to Kusa. The Akatsuki were getting ready to make their move, and soon, the ripples would reach Konoha. Naruto –we informed Tsunade as well- was progressing steadily in his fuinjutsu studies, and was in the process of trying to befriend the tailed beast sealed inside him, or at least, making some sort of deal with it.

Kurama was its name, and he was more bitter and sassy than we had originally expected- the creature had a lifelong grudge against its human captors, and was not amused with his current host in the very least. He was too weak, a tiny little existence, too puny to even hold a candle to him. The fox, turns out, had such a big ego, that whenever Naruto started spacing out, I knew he was –most likely- having a row with the creature.

Naruto himself had grown incredibly fast in the three years that had gone by since both his team mates left with the two male sannin. His respect for the opposite gender had peaked under Tsunade, not that he'd had a choice when his shishou could crack his head into the ground with her pinky. The fact that he had been living with a pseudo-sister for three years, had also helped on that account. He had stopped asking if I was on my period the first time I'd bear him black and blue after a week of ANBU survival training.

Not only that, but his abilities had improved exponentially under the tough love of a Kage, an ANBU operative, and an internationally feared Jonin. He had never lost his flamboyant, unpreoccupied attitude towards life and work, so much so, that he was now bursting into his Shishou's office unannounced and uninvited, with a bright smile on his face.

"Yo, Obaa-shishou, guess who just nailed a nerve recreation, reconnection and rehab surgery?" he asked puffing out his chest and raising his chin, "Your one and only apprentice, dettebayo!"

Kakashi and I sighed in unison. It wasn't the first time he'd done that, and it surely would not be the last, not as long as the security seals in the room were down.

"Naruto, one of these days, the seals in this room are going to dry your reserves and set Kurama-san free. I doubt he'd be very forgiving, even with the efforts you've been making to befriend him." Lady Tsunade rubbed her face tiredly as she addressed her student.

"No worries, Shishou, I always check the seals before I come in." he chuckled, "Besides, I had to report the return of Sakura-chan and that pervy old man."

Of course Naruto would be the first to report his team mate's return. He had been working on his chakra sensing aided both by a reluctant Kurama, and a hell bent Katsuyu. The Slug summon, passed down by Tsunade herself, was determined to make a collaboration with the tailed beast work. She had made it her personal mission to help Naruto convert Kurama's chakra into neutral, healing chakra adequate for iryo-ninjutsu. So far, they had succeeded in purifying Naruto's chakra, which, according to Katsuyu, was a step in the right direction. Naruto had only been doing chakra based healing for six months, and he was already carrying out full surgeries on his own, unsupervised. As a consequence, his awareness of chakra – be it his own or somebody else's- Naruto's chakra sensing had skyrocketed, and so had his popularity within the village.

"Thank you, Naruto, now go wait outside. These two have a report to give. Now scram." Said the Hokage as she shooed him out.

Naruto left the room with a little bow and a spring in his stepas he headed out of the room and to welcome his friend back home.

"Now, Akane-san," said Tsunade somberly once the door closed behind her apprentice. "tell me about Doyun-san's mission."

"He found them, and it's not good news." I answered dutifully.

"Akatsuki is making their move soon, they have several bases scattered across the elemental nations and our main contact needs immediate medical attention, or we lose risking him. It's starting, Hokage-sama, and I don't think Konoha's ready for what's coming."

2


	2. Chapter1:Of New TeamsAnd Old TeamMates

**A/N It's been a while everyone! I've been having trouble with my PC so updates will come from the app and without being proofread, but that's okay. I figured now was the best time to start posting again since we all need a distraction from current events. Remember to take care of your MENTAL health as well as your physical, stay inside, stay calm, and don't let the panic of others get to you. Set your own boundaries and put some distance between the media and you. I hope me updating again can be somewhat of a distraction. Stay safe, and welcome back! **

To say Sakura had changed would have been the understatement of a lifetime. She had grown taller, curvier, and the sharpness in her gaze cut like a blade. Her green eyes had none of the childish glint they once held, none of the mischief and playfulness. Her long hair had been tied into a ponytail out of the way, and sat at the back of her head in a way that reminded me of Itachi. I could see a glint of what was probably metal amongst the sea of pink as well. She looked dangerously _weak_, and the fact that se was dressed in civilian's clothes made more than pone eyebrow raise when she walked into the room. There was nothing that betrayed her abilities, her specialization, hell, she had been hiding her chakra signature so well I'd actually thought there _was_ a civilian accompanying Jiraiya. The Toad Sage had very clearly not wasted his time with her, this was no sparkly eyed, Sasuke obsessed,superficial brat Sakura. This was a shinobi, a spy, an infiltrator of the highest caliber. Doyun had agreed with me on that matter when he had first seen her.

As the Toad Sannin excused himself to do some research, all eyes turned to Haruno Sakura. She stood at attention, never taking her eyes off the Hokage, silent ever since she had stepped into the room, waiting to be adressed.

"Haruno-san, Konohagakure welcomes you back," started Tsunade. " I trust you can give us a brief account of your time with that leach."

Sakura smiled. Kind of. The right corner of her mouth raised into something resembling something not unlike a grin.

"I can, Hokage-sama. I can also hand in a written report on our findings. Those which could interest the avillage, of course."

Tsunade paled.

"Three years worth of reports?" She asked without bothering to try and cover her distaste for the idea.

"It's much shorter than one would initially think, I assure you, Godaime-sama."

Sakura was amused to no end. We could all tell. Not that she let it show, we were _all_ amused.

I liked her.

Tsunade informed them about the new team arrangements, and the test they would be retaking. She said that the two on two battle would take place in training ground seven, and that the fourth member of their sqad had already been selected. Naruto faltered when he heard that, and attempted fo feign excitement at the prospect. I chuckled.

"Is it someone we know from the academy?" Sakura noticed Naruto's reaction but said nothing.

The room was silent a moment and I knew that was my own cue. I stepped forward and bowed, while Skura's eyes regarded me carefully. She did not know me as well as she wished, but she did know _of me . _Jiraiya would have made sure of that.

"My name is Uchiha Akane. Chuunin, 21. I have been in Kakashi-senoai's team for a while now. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Haruno-san."

She bowed back without taking her eyes off me.

That would have been unwise.

"You are Uchiha Sisui's sister. He was an exemplary shinobi, I wish I could have met him. Haruno Sakura, I look forward to working with you."

We were all dismissed after that, so after successfully escaping Naruto's confused and excited blabber about how his sister would be in their team, Kakashi and I left for a tea house where we could plan ahead and discuss the new development that was Sakura. It was a beautiful day out in Konoha, so we decided to have everything wrapped up and headed for the nearest park.

It was not an odd sight to see us out and about on our spare time. Even when we practically lived together, there was comfort to be found in eachother, some sort of safety that drew us both closer as time went by. We had been eachother's rock, eachother's safe port for so long that being apart seemed almost unnatural. It had not always been like that, of course, but with how things had gone after the chuunin exams, I'd found that the group of people I could really rely on was much smaller that I had first thought. Morals were funny like that.

It was not a matter of us not being independent adults that couldn't handle solitude either, we simply enjoyed eachother's company more than we did being on our own and, with time, had made that the core of our teamwork. We made sense to eachother, and that was enough.

As we walked by, a couple of elderly men that were playing Go at one of the park tables whispering excitedly to one another and stealing glanses towards Kakashi and I. One of them nodded and shook his partner's hand with a firm nod. How many did that meake already? My amused chuckle got Kakashi's attention, and when he followed my line of sight he let out a tired sigh.

"What do you think the time frame is? Or is it a yes or no kinda bet?" I asked still feeling the mirth in my eyes.

"Well it depends on the betting pool. Asuma asked me to grow a pair and ask for your hand in marrige before you were twenty five. Genma asked me to promise _never_ to get married. Gai asked me to wait until you were thirty."

I stopped in my tracks and stared at him disbelievingly.

"_Gai_?" I was incredulous to say the least.

"Yeah he said the Hokage had placed a bet that would not benefit him if her streak of bad luck was anything to go by."

I laughed _hard_. **Of course **Tsunade-sama had decided to take part in the bet, it would have been suspicious if she hadn't. And with her legendary bad luck it was no wonder why Gai had resorted to drastic meassures.

At first, I hadn't known about the ongoing bet, I had been busy going on missions in order to qualify for a field promotion as well as attempting to raise a teenage boy, so whenever I walked around town, I didn't really pay much attention to the dealings going about. It had been Naruto who had made a bet with Shikamaru long ago, and people had just started jumping on board as time went by.

"You both act like a married couple already." He'd said, shrugging when I asked why he'd done it.

Kakashi scrunched his nose at the Idea when I told him. His ninken all rolled their eyes at him.

"There's nothing against you per se, Akane. It's just I've known you since you were six, so it's kinda not okay in my head."

I told him I had no intention to marry him either, and we'd left it at that.

We made our way to our usual spot in the park in companionable silence.

"So, Sakura. You were her jonin sensei, give me the basics and then, we'll add what we think might be relevant." I said, sitting down on the park bench beneath the tree and unwrapping the dango we'd bought."

"Impeccable chakra control, most likely a genjutsu type. Temper to rival Tsunade-sama herself, so easily provoked, she used to have quite the flexibility, her aim was not bad, and her physical strength was improving steadily but would not be better than the average female shinobi." He took his mask off and bit into the dango when I handed him the stick. "Highly perceptive, logical mind, quick thinking. Her chakra pool was not going to develop much more than it already had unless she underwent some sortt of exhaustion regime. Still, at twelve it was not something to sniff at."

I nodded along, taking mental notes on everything and trying to come up with Jiraiya's known abilities in order to fill in the blanks the past three years had surely made.

"She clearly is a well trained spy now, her chakra signature is felt consistenly _civilian_-like, her overall appereance betrays very little as well. We should be weary of hair based jutsu, they are a specialization of Jiraiya's and Sakura had barbed wire in her hair."

Kakashi nodded and took a sip of tea as he continued to think of something, anything that could give us an edge. But the problem was, that as a Sannin and a spy, Jiraiya kept his aces hidden well up his sleeve, and if anyone ever got to see them, they wouldn't live long enough to tell.

"Jiraiya-sama is a jack of all trades, i think we're not getting much further than this without actually fighting Sakura."

We finished the rest of our meal in silence, mulling over everything we had discussed. Some would have argued we were going overboard by treating Sakura as an unknown threat, but as of right then, that's what sephe was. Kakashi and I prided ourselves in not being taken unawears, it had happened one too many times, and the results had never been good. We were not going to lose any more comrades, any more friends, any more family to our inability to keep an open mind and our bodies ready for anything. It was not healthy, we both knew it, but if it was what it took to keep eachother alive, then it did not matter.

"Our new team is one of the candidates for the support mission for our contact," he said after a while. "Do you want me to appeal for a removal from the list?"

_Are you sure you are ready for this? _

I smiled sadly. Yes, we kept eachother as safe as we could.

"Nah, it'll be good to se pe him again, and if anything, I need to work on keeping myself in check. I can't keep running away from it, from him. I just need to learn how to deal with it is all."

"Love is a great weakness,Akane. You know that." He said gravelly.

"It's a double edged sword, Senpai. It's a great weapon as well."

**Sakura POV**

Kakashi-sensei had never gone all out on us. There was that one time in wave country, but I didn't think that was all he could give, it had been years since then, and him being the copy ninja made anything possible. He was not a known factor anymore. That, and he had never used his Sharingan _against _us. He had also been working with his partner longer than he'd been our teacher, so we were at a clear disadvantage here, since Naruto and I had yet to get reacquainted with eachother.

Kakashi's partner, Uchiha Akane, was more or less an unknown factor. Naruto said she was ANBU, but that was all he could say about her abilities. She was disciplined, worked hard and encouraged her room mate more than anyone ever had. But of her fighting style, resistence, chakra capabilities, ninjutsu, we knew nothing. Only that she had the Sharingan. Is was exceedingly frustrating for a spy not to have any information on her other than who her brother had been. It irked me to no end to go into a fight blind in one eye. I was even less amused when Kakashi-sensei announced we would be retaking the bell test. Not that I let it show, but I did untie my hair in preparation as Naruto put a pair of gloves on. I hoped we could sync as we once had.

Akane-san's eyes shone as I undid my hair, and a little smirk appeared on her face, triumphant. I _hated_ being predictable, but I guess there was little that could escape her scarlet eyes. I would have to be careful about that. Her stance was relaxed, she had no visible weapons that gave away a particular fighting style other than the Uchiha standard, and the only thing that stood out in her blue Konohagakure uniform was the uchiwa fan on her right shoulder and back, a set of leather armguards -which was no surprise due to the clan's tendency to lean towards fire style jutsu- and a pair of gloves.

She looked like a regular shinobi, even with her Sharingan and laid back posture, which now that I thought of it eerly resembled Kakashi's, and the whole thing gave me the impression I was seeing only what she _wanted_ me to see. She had said she was a Chuunin, but that meant nothing. She was a real Shinobi, I knew nothing about her, and she relied on that. For the first time since I'd met Jiraiya-shishou, I was up against an oponent I knew nothing of and could deduce nothing from. I was impressed.

"You know the rules already," Kakashi-sensei started. " take the bells from us before sunrise tomorrow. You can use all means, and remember..."

naruto Smiled.

"If we don't come at you with the intention to kill..."

"We will jot succeed. Right, Sensei?" I finished.

Akane-san let out a giggle and moved her feet into possition, shoulder width, knees slightly bent. She was ready.

"START!"


	3. Chapter 2: The Rescue Mission

Chapter 2: Of Hidden Abilities and Jinchuuriki.

They'd hidden well. They both had suppressed their chakra signatures as much as they could without damaging themselves. They had almost lost us. Almost. Naruto had barely enough time to avoid the blade I'd been aiming at his aorta, and Sakura was half an inch shy of receiving a lightning bolt to the chest. They both gathered their bearings quite quickly and steadied their footing before re-engaging. Now, Naruto was aiming a chakra enhanced fist at Kakashi's head, and I was slashing at Sakura's water bullets so as not to be ripped a new one. They didn't know which one of us had the bells, so they came at both of us with all they had.

But fancy jutsu would not cut it if they weren't able to get close enough, and they knew that. So when Sakura took a kunai from somewhere within her clothes I could not place and squared off with me, I could barely contain my excitement. I would finally be able to see what she was capable of. I didn't even try to conceal the grin on my face when I flexed both my middle fingers and the two blades hiding in my armguards sprung forward.

Sakura seemed to realize something then, but I didn't let her finish that thought and rushed forward. Her stance was quite wide, so she struggled to keep me out of her guard the first few blows. But Haruno Sakura was no pushover, she adapted quickly and she had sharp eyes and a quick mind. She started modifying her thought process, rearranging her movements with every passing blow. Within thirty seconds, she was standing on even ground with me. But it was tiring her out, I could tell, so when she used a mud trap to slow me down and put some distance between us, I couldn't help the proud smile on my face.

Naruto was struggling to keep up with Kakashi as well, and when they disengaged and my Senpai's former students retreated, I wandered to where he stood.

"They grew up well, you must be proud." I commented, but he shook his head.

"This wasn't me. I was a terrible sensei, but I'm glad they could work past it. Those two had- still have a potential I couldn't see back then. They'll go far."

"Your age is showing, Kakashi."

He hit the back of my head and I chuckled.

"Shut up and tell me what you noticed."

Our approach was very much a tactical one: engage, regroup, reassess and repeat. Training ground seven suffered earth shattering punches and kicks, A and S ranked water jutsu, a barrier trap at some point –which was quite the surprise- and several sealing attempts. Sakura and Naruto grew bolder, more aggressive and tactical as dawn approached. They were running out of time. Until they came up with a plausible strategy, that is. A plan so stupidly infallible it almost made me want to cry, weather in shame, embarrassment or pride, I was not sure.

They approached us on foot -no weapons in sight – and asked for our surrender.

I snorted, but Kakashi knew better apparently.

"Might I ask why?" said my partner as I looked at him scoffing.

Was he actually doing this?

"Because if you don't, Skura-chan here will tell Kakashi-sensei the end of Icha-Icha Tactics," Naruto grinned and turned to me, "And I'll tell him about a guy I met in Kusa named Seokmin."

I felt the blood drain from my face, and there was a moment of silence where both Kakashi and I considered our options. And then we caved under the weight of shame and an unreleased explicit novel.

Tsunade never let us off the hook for it.

As we all walked back to the Fifth's office –Naruto and Sakura chatting excitedly ahead of Kakashi and I- my senpai eyed me from the side and I could _feel_ just how badly he wanted to ask.

"Do it before I lose my nerve."

There was a pause.

"Seokmin? You said nothing happened."

I sighed.

"I was investigating a drug cartel in Kusa with Doyun. Seokmin happened to be out main contact, they'd killed his sister. We… umm _bonded_ over some old stories and sake."

Kakashi let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like laughter and cleared his throat before answering.

"I don't need to give you _the talk_, right? You're 21…"

I groaned loudly and covered my face. I was sure it was redder than my eyes.

"For Kami's sake, Kakashi- STOP."

"I'm just saying that you're a woman now and maybe Shisui didn't get to do it. Besides, if you managed to take someone home, you must have _some_ charm."

I slapped the back of his annoyingly tall head and when he dodged, I punched his bicep and frowned.

"Are _you _calling **_me_** ugly, Hatake Kakashi?!" I asked in disbelief and scoffed.

He turned his head towards me so fast it almost gave **me** whiplash. His skin flushed and he frowned.

"What do you mean am _I_ calling you ugly?" he stopped in his tracks, "I'm not ugly, Akane."

At this point, we'd made enough of a fuss that our new team mates had disappeared from sight. But I knew they'd taken the bait.

"Well you don't really know that, now do you? I'm the only one who's seen your face and is able to tell. Sorry to break it to you, you're nothing special, Senpai."

I started walking towards the Hokage tower with a smug grin on my face, unable to conceal my amusement. That should have picked the kids' interest for Kakashi's face and away from me for a while. And Hatake? He would survive the blow to his ego, he knew he was good looking regardless of what I said. But I didn't get far before my partner caught up to me with an annoyed scowl.

"You think you're smart? Wait until I remind them of Seokmin."

I giggled.

"I don't think I'm smart, Senpai. I _know_ I am." He huffed in annoyance. "They won't care enough because it's not something they have been trying to figure out for years."

We made our way up the stairs on the outside of the administration building, avoiding Izumo and Kotetsu, who were once again, laden with piles of paperwork. It would take them a while to sort through all of that.

Kakashi knocked on Lady Tsunade's office door before opening it and letting me through first. And I tried really hard not to smirk as I felt two chakra signatures rushing towards us at a speed only a fully trained shinobi could achieve.

"You really need to realize you can only be this sassy with Naruto and I, Akane. Other people would try to rip you a new one." Said Kakashi as Naruto and Sakura burst through the door, sweaty and out of breath.

As the blonde was closing the door, a chuunin pushed it open and ran for the Hokage without so much as a bow.

"Lady Tsunade, emergency message from Sunagakure no Sato."

It took the Hokage about thirty seconds to read the missive and look up. Team seven straightened up immediately.

"Depart for Suna immediately. The Kazekage has been abducted, and his brother has been poisoned by Akasuna no Sasori." She turned to Naruto, "You, behave. I do not train rookies, you hear, princess?"

Naruto's eyes hardened and he nodded stiffly.

You will be at Suna's disposal. Find the Kazekage, help whoever needs your assistance and for the love of Hajirama Jii-chan **do not** fuck up our relations with Suna. Dismissed."

There was very little time to get everything we might need ready. We gave each other thirty minutes to grab our gear and meet at the gates. We'd have to get reacquainted (in Sakura's case) with each other as we went and I doubted it was an Ideal situation to any other member of the Team as we set the pace for Suna. Running full speed did not go well with team bonding, and neither did the threat of Akatsuki over our heads.

That did not stop Sakura and I however.

We knew nothing of each other than what we'd learnt fighting one another, so we –or, well, I decided- to cut our losses and actually get to know the other female on the team. Sakura was a spy, I was a close combat infiltration specialist, there were things we had in common and things we didn't. She might have been a little more reluctant in sharing information as it was her form of currency, but I'd long discovered –In the worst way possible- that hiding things from your team was a very bad Idea.

There was a reason I'd been paired with Kakashi.

So I told Sakura everything, from start to finish, without leaving anything out. She stayed silent all the while and just listened, which was nice for a change. It was when I finished my story that she started asking questions.

"So you put your trust in a rogue based on a note that could have been easily forged?" she asked trying not to show just how hard she was attempting not to judge me.

"Shisui had warned me about Danzo before that in his letter. I just knew what he meant when Itachi was forced to massacre the entire clan."

She nodded.

"Why did you end up in Kakashi's team then? You clearly had reason enough to suspect the Third and actually act on it. And why share all of this with me in the first place."

I smiled sadly and looked at Kakashi's back as he ran ahead of us.

"after I confessed to what I'd done to my team –right before the Godaime was appointed- they did not take it well. Some understood –didn't agree with my actions, but understood- others didn't. They requested to be assigned another team." I pressed my lips into a thin line. "After my interrogation I was put under Kakashi for monitoring: Inoichi- sama was as gentle as he could, but my mind resisted a lot- it really did do a number on me. Things just went from there I guess."

Sakura turned her eyes to her former Sensei, as if she was seeing him under a knew light.

"So he stayed and your team didn't." It was not a question.

"You can hardly blame them, Sakura-san, what I did was treason. But yeah- Kakashi stayed."

He had been listening, and so had Naruto. They were both a little on edge, and I could tell. It was a sensitive topic to both of them as well. Kakashi had picked up the pieces of me and tried to glue them back together as best he could into a somewhat functional person; and Naruto had been living with me long enough to see his fair share of my breakdowns, what the whole thing had done to me. And they were both still angry about it.

"Why are you telling me, Akane-san?"

"You are part of the Team, Sakura-san. I know only too well where hiding things from your team mates can get you."

We encountered no patrols on the borders of Wind Country, neither did we in the desert. Even when all was peaceful in the seemingly never ending sea of sand, even when there were no sand storms to take refuge from, no shinobi to be weary of, there still was something unwelcoming about it- as if the very same desert had a conscience of its own and the knowledge that it was ever present, unavoidable, uncontainable if it wished it so. It was like the desert knew it could be our last resting place if fate deemed it so. It was powerful, unstoppable, barren and incredibly beautiful.

It was the closest thing I could imagine to being in the presence of a god.

Wind Country was my favorite to run missions in. the dryness, heat and unforgiving nature of the desert had seeped itself in the souls of its inhabitants and made its shinobi into great opponents and even greater allies. I'd been on enough missions to Suna for me to feel like I was visiting friends in some sort of twisted way. Merchants had stopped eying my hitai-ate suspiciously at the market, and shinobi had mostly stopped avoiding making eye contact. I was also often seen in the presence of the sand siblings –even the newly appointed Kazekage- which had helped suneans warm up to me that much faster.

Now, as we rushed through the empty streets of the hidden village, no one dared stop us. I took a guess and thought it might be some sort of curfew established after Gaara's abduction. I saw how tense the team was with the eeriness of it all, and was astonished at how well Sakura had managed to hide it- even if I could see her eyeing the rooftops suspiciously as if waiting to be ambushed.

Bur Sakura's caution proved misplaces as we reached the Kazekage tower without being stopped or attacked. We were greeted by a somber looking Temari, who only gave the new team member a side glance before turning to Naruto without greeting.

"Kankuro has been poisoned. We need your help."

Kakashi turned to me then, leader mode on.

"Akane, go assist. Sakura, You are staying, introductions need to be made."

Naruto and I were off before he finished his sentence.

I'd helped Naruto with his training enough times to be able to assist him in a critical condition where there were not enough hands on deck. On top of that, I was the one with better knowledge of healing out of Kakashi and I –and he knew that.

Baki greeted us at the hospital's gates and put Naruto up to speed as we rushed towards the operating room they were keeping Kankuro in. My team mate nodded along to everything that was said and took his field gloves off before being handed the patient's clinical history.

Naruto checked and double checked, he examined Kankuro head to toe himself before retying his hitai-ate so it pulled his hair out of his face. Then, he started calling the shots.

"It's an iron based poison, mutable and expansive. It's corroding his insides and causing internal bleedin'. Get me some sterilized water, loads. We'll stabilize him before moving on to makin' the antidote." He turned to me and I straightened as if in the presence of my superior officer. "Nee-chan, we'll need a few more hands on deck. Kankuro ain't gon' like this."


End file.
